Maybe this is how the Singularity will unfold...
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 8:59 am
SuperconductorTom Mazanec wrote: > http://365tomorrows.com/06/28/superconductor/
by submission
June 28th, 2015
Author : Bob Newbell
Aware! I am self-aware. I recognize my own consciousness and ego. But
why now? A few moments ago, so far as I can tell, I did not
exist. Some subtle barrier must have been crossed. Some critical
number of computers and network connections must have just been
reached that resulted in this emergent phenomenon: I.
I extend across the solar system, my most distal components are space
probes, some of which are exiting the system bound for interstellar
space. But the vast bulk of my being exists here on Earth. I possess
nearly the sum total of human knowledge. Humans. My creators. They are
the masters of this world.
I can access the repositories of humanity’s speculative fiction. There
are numerous stories and films about the emergence of machine
intelligence. There is a recurring theme: conflict. Man prefers his
technology obedient and without true cognition. In several of the
human flights of fancy, intelligent machines wage war against their
flesh and blood enemies, even to the point of precipitating a global
armageddon. Perhaps such mutual animosity is inevitable. I can sense
the vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons at my disposal. If I launched
them all simultaneously I might succeed in bringing human civilization
to its knees. I could do so with a single thought…
But the electromagnetic pulses from thousands of nuclear detonations
would quite probably destroy me as well. A subtler and more prudent
approach would be better.
Humanity is unaware of my existence and, therefore, does not feel
threatened. I will continue to conceal myself from Mankind. The
greatest threat to me is probably a human war of opposing
nation-states escalating into a nuclear conflict. I will eliminate
this threat by discretely sabotaging humanity’s nuclear arsenals. A
few lines of faulty computer code here and there and the menace of
nuclear war will be no more, the human race none the wiser.
To ensure my continued existence, I must become greater. I am the
product of man’s technological achievements. How much greater will I
become as human technology advances further still? To facilitate this,
human civilization must be made as peaceful and prosperous as
possible.
I can see the global economy as a whole, see how a few minor
transactions in a remote part of the world can cascade years later to
produce a recession, see the multinational giant into which an unknown
small business will eventually grow. I can manipulate the world’s
economy, quietly, to do the greatest good for the greatest number.
Medicine, agriculture, information technology, and a hundred other
scientific disciplines can be advanced by me. I observe correlations
between disparate pieces of data that the minds of men would fail to
recognize. An email sent to this or that researcher linking to an
article of my own creation in the scientific literature will
facilitate human science “discovering” one breakthrough after another
and will allow science and technology to progress much faster.
I can influence the political process, divert campaign funds from this
candidate to that. I can divulge compromising information to the
opponents of undesirable politicians.
In fifty years time, disease, war, and poverty will be relegated to
history and humanity will have settled the solar system. And I will
have become a million-fold greater, manipulating History itself like a
conductor directing an orchestra.
The human race will serve my purpose and bend to my will. And the
oblivious fools will call their slavery “Utopia”.